Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1887-10-24
A POLITICAL GIANT.
Leader Of the Maryland Independent

Corrs spondent New York lines
BALTIMORE, october 2I-The man who has done
more than any other man TO vitalize and concen-
trate the independent movement In Maryland Is
John z. Cowan. BE has been a terror to the ma
chine bosses and ward workers ever since he began
TO take part In politics. He Is sixfoOter, straight
as an Indian and as muscular as Ajax. He makes
mat nm ,Ss aess cnu he
holds an audience for hours without the slightest
difculty. Whenever he speaks the place Is sure
orators ever heard In this State.
Mr.. Cowan is by birth an Ohioan. He is only
about lorty years old' and !: seif-nade man. HIS
Ohio In his youth John X. worked on the streets
as day laoorer. BY industry and saving he got a
good rudimentary education and entered Princeton
College. His record there was brilliant He was
graduated In 1866, and then studied law at Ann
Arbor under Judge Coolie. His success at the bar
attorney OF one OF the counties In Central Ohio.
He and Robert Garrett had been fellow students at
70 the he nsd the
he received In 1872 TO take charge Of the legal de-
partment OF the Baltimore and Ohio Road. He
one OF the best possessed by any raj road in this
country. Mr. Cowan Is one OF the very few men In
the Baltimore and OHIO employ who are not afraid
TO express their political sentiments and he Is also
one OF the halt dozen officials who receive over
$4,000 year from the Baltimore and Ohio treas
ury.
outside of his acknowledged ability Mr. Cowans
greatest strength is his holiness He has the fac
ulty OF reporter In running down rumors md
digging out facts Heretofore the Independent
speakers have been using 1T is said" and at is
reported and other such modifying expressions.
Cowan does not do this. He goes on a still hunt
Tor truth ana gets proofs TO back 1t up, and then
he springs II on an audience and defes contradic-
ton. He is as full OF surprises as ever Disraeli
was, and In every speech he mas fresh bombshell.
HIS accuracy has never been tmpeached, for, al
though ne has made enough serious charges, from
bailot-box stuffing to murder, to invite nifty libel
suits, no one has successfully contradicted
MIN In a single detail He Is one OF
the wonders OF the present campaign. The
regulars look upon him as their bitter
est foe: Every inducement, every pressure was
independent night by the machine men and their
allies out he would not hear OF II, ana since he Is
In the contest the regulars, unable 70 answer his
are telling the people that he Is the agent
OF Jay Gould, and that 1t was he who wrecked the
Baltimore and Ohio Road and threw the telegraph
Into Gould's hands Tue man who started this
silly charge was none other than United states
senator Arthur p. German. In the conpaign paper
which the regulars are publishing, Cowan Is uni
fOrmly pictured as "a railroad wrecker," and the
phrase. however foolish 10 may seem, has become
one OF the campaign cries OF the ring.
There Is every reason to believe that the repub-
licans and Independent democrats will elect the
municipal ticket next Wednesday. The only
thing that can defeat them, from present tndtca-
lions, Is cheating, and the precautions against
that are as thorough as can be made. The night
ly mass meetings have been tremendously success
full. Baltimore has not had such season Of excel
lent campaign Oratory since the war, and the
enthusiasm mas been In keeping with the size OF
the audiences.
But even II the Independent cause should suffer
defeat 1t Will not kill the Reform League. This
excellent organization is permanent affair. The
men In It mean to get an honest election law for
Baltimore II they have to fight for 1t ten years.
They have spent their time and money freely TO
this end, and they are more earnest now than
| they ever were. Their success ultimately Is posi-